Noted architect Bennie M. Gonzales has passed away at age 84 in Nogales, Arizona. Gonzales was impressed by Frank Lloyd Wright while working at his father’s adobe-brick
factory, which made the materials for the Arizona Biltmore
Hotel. Read more about the life of Gonzales by following the link.

This is the last weekend tours will be offered before the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Zimmerman House closes for the season. It's the only Wright home in New England open to the public and it will take your breath away! Check out more here.

A member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy discussion forum recently put me onto a link for Gumps of San
Francisco. It was once a favorite place of Frank Lloyd Wright's to shop when visiting the Bay area. While the vintage versions Wright collected are too expensive for most pocketbooks, these fantastic contemporary versions are stunning and accessible. Check them out here.

Earlier this month on WTTW Chicago, "tour guide extrordanaire" Geoffery Baer presented Chicago's Lakefront. If you missed this spectacular show or are outside of the Chicago area, you can watch the entire 90 minute program here. I highly recommend it.

The Detroit Free Press recently wrote up a home design called "The Edenbridge" which is being billed as a modern take on the designs and ideals of the Prairie School. Maybe "McPrairie Style". You can gawk at it here.

With heavy rains and melting snow, flooding has again hit several communities near rivers in the Chicagoland area. Officials urged residents near the Des Plains River in the historically and architecturally significant town of Riverside, Illinois to evacuate Saturday due to the river spilling over its banks. Read more about it here.

Thanks again to Paul for the heads-up on a new book by Timothy Street-Porter called L.A. Modern. This tome is unique in that it covers seven decades,
from Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House in 1920 all the way to Frank
Gehry's Schnabel House in 1989. Check it out by following the link.

Ok, it's Christmas Eve. If you haven't gotten your shopping done and you've got to be somewhere tonight with a thoughtful hostess gift in-hand, then here's a suggestion to help you out. Make one of these really clever origami holiday wreath ornaments and drape it over the neck of a nice bottle of wine. You can get the directions by following the link. Happy Holidays!

Recycle Now has a great video on how to gift wrap with Furoshiki. What is Furoshiki you say, well it's a creative way to gift wrap using fabric. This fabric can be reused to gift again or, as you will see in the video, be used to create a bag. How cool would it be to use Amy Butler fabrics for this!

In New York and desperate to find a last-minute gift? Might I suggest then popping over to the MoMa store and picking up the very cool wooden play set by Muji called "NYC in a bag". Of course, the only thing cooler would be a "Chicago in a bag" set. Check it out here.

We are excited to announce that we've added another contributor to PrairieMod, the super-cool and savvy Jared Fanning.

Jared is a designer living in the Chicago suburbs (17.7 miles from
Frank Lloyd Wright's studio, and 3.6 miles from the Prairie Design
Group HQ). He spends his days designing good-looking things and
marketing for a financial company, then spends nights constantly
arranging and rearranging his apartment with his newlywed wife.

Jared has been a PrairieMod reader for quite sometime and we are thrilled to have him join the team!

The next time we're in my wife's old neighborhood of Lincoln Park in Chicago, I'm definitely stopping by the Dutch Bike Company's new store on Armitage Ave. The Dutch Bike Co., which sells European style city bikes, has already caught on in Seattle, and now its trying out Chicago. Continue reading after the jump...

Looking for some great 19th century prints of Chicago buildings like Dearborn Building by architects Jenny and Mundie shown at left? Then check out St. Croix Architecture and their amazing (and affordable) selection of prints. Oh yeah, they also carry other cities as well. See it all here.

Tampa Bay illustrator Jen Renninger has it covered for mid-century modern. Her "modern design deck" series of prints covers the abc's of modern furniture design and comes in a limited edition of 250 , each print signed, numbered, and dated.
She also has a Modern Design Poster Print which covers all 30 cards in the series. A great gift for the modern collector in your life. Very cool art!

I'm the first to admit that as a designer, I hate ridiculous photoshop filters that make your image look like it's water color (incredible!) or wrapped in plastic (amazing!) - but that being said photofunia.com is pretty unique in that it takes this idea to the next level. Continue reading after the jump...

Logo Design Love has a cool article about 15 inspiring ambigram logos. An ambigram is a graphical figure that spells out one or more words not only as presented but also in another direction or orientation (from Wikipedia). That's pretty ingenious!

It was bitterly cold this weekend in Chicago, but it didn't stop me from doing a little treasure hunting. What did I find? How about a really sweet 1909 real photo postcard of the Louis Sullivan-designed Carson Pirie Scott & Co. Building (originally known as the Schlesinger & Mayer Store). Check out the cornice which has only recently been restored. Got any cool treasures you've found? Let me know and I'll be happy to feature them.

Inspired by yesterday's "Hanno" wooden gorilla find, I thought I'd post on the Scandinavian Modern Master of the wooden animal, Kaj Bojesen. Originally a silversmith, Kay Bojesen was a Danish designer recognized universally as a master in creating wooden toys. Vintage pieces are prized and hard to come by, but you can get new pieces including a monkey, bear and elephant-- all made using the same designs and craftsmanship. Check it out here.

More news about "Chairgate". The blog Wright In Racine reports that after an internal company audit, the S.C. Johnson Wax Company has found that several of their Frank Lloyd Wright-designed chairs appear to be missing. Read about it by following the link.

There's something about this articulated wooden gorilla toy that I totally dig. "Hanno," as he's called, has a sustainably harvested hardwood frame that can hold many
poses, and his elastic-band muscles and durable wood limbs make him
almost impervious to breakage. I wouldn't mind finding this great ape in my holiday stocking! Check it out here.

The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Annie Pfeiffer Chapel in Lakeland, FL was the other Wright building receiving a grant from the Save America's Treasures program. Here's an article discussing the building and what the money will be used for.

Variety reports that Lionsgate has acquired screen rights to the bestselling novel Loving Frank, the Oak Park era heavy-breather by Nancy Horan. Any suggestions as to who should play Frank, Mamah and Edwin Cheney? Read more about it here.

Here's a follow-up to the story from the Chicago Tribune about Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple receiving some much needed funds via a grant from the Save America's Treasures program. Read about it here.

The 2008 Save America's Treasures list has been announced and two significant Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings are going to received funds to help in their restoration and preservation. Congratulations to the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel in Lakeland, FL and hometown favorite, Unity Temple in Oak Park, IL. Read more about it and see the entire list by following the link.

I have a confession to make: I still have to buy all my Christmas gifts for the people on my list. If you're like me, instead of panicking here are a few suggestions for some of the coolest gifts you can give...

Teco Pottery has been called the art pottery of the Prairie School. Several progressive architects of the era (including Frank Lloyd Wright) designed some of the most compelling shapes originally offered by the Gates Potteries. I recently came across the existence of one of Wright's more famous Teco designs at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Designed in 1905 and refered to as the "Skyscraper Vase" this amazingly modern-looking vase could quite possibly be the only known example to still exist. Check it out by following the link.